Awakening to Your Womb Voice
“There is no power greater in this world than the womb.” – Womb Awakening
The womb has long been revered by indigenous cultures and spiritual traditions. While the uterus is a physical space in female bodied beings, it’s foremost an energetic space: dark, wise, nourishing and sacred. (The energetic womb is sensed in women who have had a hysterectomy and, even those born biologically male have wombs, called the hara.)
Yet in modern times this vortex of creation is often undermined, forgotten, rejected (menstruation being the most misunderstood, yet sacred and sexually charged part of a women’s cycle). But it is getting intimate with this ancient, creative and mighty part of us – and not just during child rearing – that we open the floodgates that contain our truth and our power.
Taught to chase “success”, as the patriarchy has defined it, we often give our energy and time to things that will never provide us lasting fulfillment: Pursuing and rushing to prove ourselves, then crashing, numbing and feeling unsatisfied, disconnected from our Selves. It is this externally focused way of life that keeps us caged, living in our heads, detached from the supple, watery depths of our creative potential, and the truth of who we are. But, when we spend time finding and exploring our root, our womb space, the ultimate source of creation and thus all power, we start to remember…
Womb wisdom dwells in the subtle whisper of the divine feminine. No matter how hard we try to rationalize this potent yet unrestrained part of ourselves, we cannot because the feminine cannot be contained within the confines of hypermasculine mental structures where subtle, slow and powerful have not traditionally coexisted. So, to hear this ancient wisdom, we must visit this rich garden within often and practice listening – sensing and imagining – with our entire being.
We must create space each day to feel into our inherent value and creative power, at our root. Otherwise, we will never slow down enough to awaken to this subtle voice within, patiently splashing truth at us like waves lapping against the seashore.
Practices for Womb Awakening:
Womb Awareness Meditation:Inhabit this sacred space in your mind’s eye.
Get comfortable. I suggest sitting on a cushion in Vajrasana with the knees apart or lying down. Slow down your breath as you become aware of sensation in your body. Make a diamond shape with your hands by touching your pointer fingers and thumbs. Place this diamond shape at your Sacral (2nd) Chakra so your thumbs rest at your naval and your pointers rest at what’s called in Taoism the Ovarian Palace (your pinkies will rest at your ovaries). Once you feel calm and embodied, start to slowly draw a map of your yoni and womb in your mind’s eye. Start by visualizing and sensing the entrance of your yoni by slowly tracing, feeling and imagining your labia, clitoris and eventually your vaginal opening. Next move your awareness up and inside of your vagina, tracing the walls in all directions and slowly spiraling your awareness up, pausing at each step along to imagine, feel and connect, eventually making your way up to your cervix. Pause here, feeling and visualizing your cervix, the gateway to your uterus and the reflexology point for your heart, connecting deeply until you can feel the energy swirling as sensation. Keep journeying beyond your cervix, into your womb. Tracing this upside pear shape in your mind’s eye as you continue to sense and feel. Feel into each ovary (under your pinky fingers). Stay here and breathe into your womb, allowing your belly to gently rise and fall, re-energizing this part of your body. Feel the warmth of your hands radiating into your uterus and ovaries, watering your potent garden of creation. Are there any seeds of intention you are called to plant, or cultivate? Ask your womb what she’s sensing, what she needs and what she desires. Listen and practice honoring what comes.
Jade Egg:Use your Jade Egg to awaken and re-sensitize your yoni and activate your sexual/creative energy.
Pelvic Massage:Use your fingers to lovingly massage and get to know the inside of your vagina (I recommend Wild Feminine listed below for further explanation of pelvic massage).
Recommended reading to go deeper:
- Womb Awakening: Initiatory Wisdom from the Creatrix of All Life, by Azra Bertrand M.D. & Seren Bertrand
- Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit & Joy in the FemaleBody, by Tami Lynn Kent
- Healing Love through the Tao: Cultivating Female Sexual Energy, by Mantak Chia
By Allie Andrews, Self-Care Coach, Yoga Teacher, Speaker